This content was published: February 11, 2020. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Faculty Spotlight #5
Posted by raquel.salazar
Sustainability is practiced all throughout PCC, from innovative waste management and learning gardens to solar energy and active transportation. But do you know about the faculty who include sustainability in their classes? Every week on our Sustainability blog and social media accounts we will share a faculty member who integrates sustainability into their course curriculum. PCC faculty have the ability to educate and extend sustainability efforts to students, creating positive change in our communities. Follow our Sustainability Blog and PCC_Sustain on Instagram and Twitter to learn about these inspiring faculty members! If you are a faculty member or know of one practicing sustainability efforts, please email sustainability@pcc.edu to be featured!
This week’s faculty spotlight is Taryn Oakley! Taryn is an Environmental Studies professor at Cascade campus. She teaches Environmental Science – Biological Perspectives (ESR 171). One of her favorite projects with this class is having students work in small groups to create their own sustainable communities. Using information from class lectures, films and field trips they are able to connect their knowledge of food systems, population, ecosystem impacts, community, energy, transportation and more. She loves the creativity that comes out of this project and the realization that our communities can be a source of inspiration. Plus, having the students work together builds community within their community.
Taryn’s inspiration was to give a final project that wasn’t a paper and that was open-ended and allowed for creativity. The students get a chance to integrate what they have learned all term into something meaningful. And if she’s lucky, some of them will be inspired to work on bringing more sustainability to their own neighborhoods and communities!